DIY dog duvets

Mother Nature Network
Matt Hickman
Saturday, September 12, 2009

I’m vigilant about making sure that sartorial castaways from my closet end up in the right secondhand hands (I donate to the wonderful chain of NYC nonprofit thrift stores, Housing Works). However, there are some clothing items — pit-stained undershirts, unmentionables, socks, items damaged/stained beyond repair — and household textiles like sheets, towels, and pillows that don’t make it to my “donate” bag. I try to hang on to these items as long as possible but as someone who is scared of (sewing) needles and who has limited space at home, a few things regrettably enter the waste stream.

Pet owners faced with this dilemma, have a great upcycling alternative in the form of Molly Mutt Dog Duvets.

Here’s how it works: Molly Mutt provides the stylin’, 100 percent cotton duvet covers available in special DIY dog bed kits or individually along with special mesh “stuff sacks.” You collect old, unused, and potentially trash-bound bedding, towels, and clothing piling up around the house and simply stuff ‘em into the sack that provides the filling for the duvet. Voila! A comfy, good-looking pet bed for your four-legged housemate. The resulting beds may end up a bit lumpy but I don’t think you’ll be getting any complaints.

In addition to preventing textiles from being landfilled, Molly Mutt Dog Duvets are also a great alternative to one-piece foam pet beds that are tossed and replaced after suffering particularly big messes. MM duvet covers are completely washable and if you want to freshen up the bed’s “insides,” that’s an easy option, too.

Three DIY kits — Hey, Scenesters!, Shoegazing, Posh Playthings — are available for $50 (small), $72 (medium/large), and $95 (huge). Each contains two fashionable doggy duvet covers and the stuff sack. There’s also a fresh new duvet design, Perfect Afternoon, not yet available as part of the DIY kits.

Gardening 101: How do I become a no impact gardener?

Examiner
Jaipi Sixbear
Friday, September 4, 2009

Not all gardeners are no impact gardeners. Organic gardeners do their best to leave a positive impact on the environment. There are many ways of working toward leaving no impact. Here are just a few green gardening suggestions. Try to think of your own ways to leave no impact in the garden as well.

Natural pesticides
Organic gardeners are sure to use nature friendly pesticides that leave no impact on our water supply. This step will also protect beneficial insects such as honey bees and lady bugs.

Barrier pest control
Another good organic gardening technique that leaves no impact on the environment is the use of barriers to protect plants from pests. The barrier method keeps birds and small animals from eating garden produce without causing them harm.

Compost
Using homemade compost as fertilizer keeps harmful chemicals out of the soil. Many commercial fertilizers contain chemicals which leach into the soil and water supply. Leave no impact by making your own compost fertilizer from trimmings, leaves and kitchen scraps.

Reduce waste
All the kitchen vegetable scraps, leaves, twigs and clipping are used for compost. This means a reduction in the household waste and a further step toward a no impact lifestyle. Making your own compost can be quite simple.

Donate food
No impact organic gardeners don’t waste food. Garden surplus is sold or given to friends, neighbors and relatives. Local food banks gladly accept any unwanted garden produce. Think about canning and freezing garden produce as well. Cut down on the grocery bill and consume less goods.

Recycle pots
Greenhouses will accept plastic disposable pots for re-use. Another option for no impact organic gardening is to use them yourself. Even broken clay pots can be used again. Just put the broken pieces in the bottom of pots in place of gravel for drainage.

Recycle soil
Don’t throw away potting soil at the end of the year. Mix it with fertilizer or throw it into the compost pile for further use. No impact organic gardening means using everything to its fullest potential.

Save seeds
Organic gardeners don’t buy seeds every year. Work toward a no impact garden by saving plant seeds from this years vegetable, herb and flower crops. The seeds can be used by you next year or shared with other gardening friends.

Hand tools
Hand tools leave no impact on the environment. They don’t necessitate fuel purchases or energy use. Save money by using hand tools as a no impact gardening method. It’s also a great way to get a little gardening workout and reap health benefits too.

Grow your own food — in a bag, in a truck, anywhere

Yahoo! Green
Trystan L. Bass
Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Gardening isn’t just for people with lots of land. You can raise your own tasty crops in the smallest and oddest of containers. If you have access to some sun, plus time to water and care for seedlings, every little spot in the world is your garden.

About.com has tips for growing a head of lettuce in a Whole Foods reusable grocery bag. Typically, these bags are reused when you buy salad fixings at the store, but why not use them to raise fresh salad at home? Doesn’t look that hard.

In fact, an entire Flickr group is devoted to Grow Bag Gardening. People around the country are growing potatoes in potato sacks, fertilizing plants in bags of fertilizer, and even raising crops in tin cans.

The container gardening site at Texas A&M also suggests using a cake pan as the site to grow green onions, radishes, or beets. What a great way to use an old pan that’s scratched or warped or to use something found at the thrift store.

Some people have flowers in a window planter. But the Window Farm Project takes it a step further and shows people how to turn an urban apartment window into a hydroponic farm.

All you need is some plastic water bottles (at last, a use for those things!), some netting, piping, and fishing wire. Hook it all together with a little water pump, and you can churn out a salad every week.

Maybe you want to take your garden on the go. Like the Truck Farm. It’s a vehicle, it’s a garden, it’s a movie.

By loading the bed of an old grey Dodge up with organic compost and planting heirloom seeds, filmmakers at Wicked Delicate created a mobile garden in Brooklyn, NY. Check out the movie’s trailer:

Green Your Blue Jeans

Low Impact Living
Bridgette Meinhold
Friday, August 21, 2009

Blue jeans are classic, and a staple in almost every American’s wardrobe. They’re comfortable, versatile, durable and they look great too. There are jeans for every shape and size and if you ever find a pair of jeans that fit you perfectly – buy them. That is, as long as they’re organic cotton or vintage. And when you’ve worn out the knees or moved on to a better fit, make use of your old jeans by recycling them. Why this emphasis on eco jeans?

Did you know it takes about 2/3 pound of fertilizer and pesticides to grow enough conventional cotton to make a pair of jeans? Conventional cotton production is responsible for 11% of the world’s pesticides and 25% of the world’s insecticides. The workers who harvest the cotton are exposed to these dangerous chemicals, and five of the top nine pesticides used in cotton production are known carcinogens according to the EPA. The dye used to color the jeans is a synthetic indigo, which can drain into nearby waterways. And to get that stone-washed, worn-out look, jeans go through a rigorous process involving sand paper, chemicals and bleaches, which often end up polluting nearby waterways and ecosystems.

Used or Vintage Jeans

When you’re in the market for a new pair of jeans, look first to vintage or thrift store jeans, which require no extra pollution or energy to produce. Online stores like Vintage Trends, Etsy and Ebay have scores of vintage and used jeans. Otherwise, you are certain to find lots of jeans in your nearby thrift stores. Remember jeans can be easily altered by a tailor to fit you perfectly.

Organic Denim Jeans

If you can’t find your favorite fit in older or vintage jeans, many new brands are making organic denim jeans that minimize the chemicals and toxins. Well-known brands like Gap and Levis are have a number of organic cotton jeans in their lineup. And here are some other brands that have organic cotton and non-toxic dyes:

* Del Forte Organic Denim
* 7 For All Mankind
* Good Society
* Mission Playground
* Sharkah Chakra
* Edun
* Loomstate
* Howies UK
* Mavi
* Planet Earth Green Label

Reuse Your Old Jeans

Jeans get worn and then they get worn out, stretched out and ripped. It’s hard to say goodbye to your favorite pair of jeans. But fear not, you can transform your jeans into something useful. Grab your scissors and a sewing machine for a DIY project to turn those jeans into a wallet, bag, skirt, apron, potholders and more. Check out Threadbanger for their amazing roundup of DIY projects using old jeans.

Recycle Your Old Jeans

Aren’t the crafty type you say, well that’s ok too. There’s still a place for your worn out jeans. There are a few companies out there now who would be happy to take your old jeans and shred them up for insulation. You may have heard of recycled cotton batt insulation, which is made from recycled denim. Cotton batt insulation comes in a roll and is very easy to install in between stud framing. It is also non-toxic and contains no chemicals or harsh irritants, and it has a R-value of 3.7, which is higher than most fiberglass batts. And at 3.5″ of insulation, you get R 13.

Bonded Logic is one of the most well known companies manufacturing recycled cotton batt insulation. Most of their denim material comes from the floors of manufacturing plants, but they do incorporate some recycled jeans. You can send your jeans to Green Jeans Insulation, who will take your old jeans and process them into insulation. You can also learn more about the process at CottonFromBluetoGreen.org, which is in part sponsored by America’s Cotton Producers and Importers.

So whether you turn them into something useful for yourself or you send them off to become insulation, you’ll have kept those hardworking jeans out of the landfill and extended their life.

Rubber Sidewalks Give the Bounce to Concrete

Matter Network
Tina Casey
Monday, July 20, 2009

Rubber sidewalks are all grown up. Once perceived mainly as a safe surface for playgrounds, rubber sidewalks have developed into a means of preserving urban trees, reducing stormwater runoff, recycling tires, and curbing greenhouse gas emissions. A company called Rubbersidewalks (what else?) began installing the modular units in 2002, and its rubber sidewalk products now appear in almost 100 cities across the country. Even the U.S. military is getting into the act. Plans are in the works to install rubber sidewalks at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, California, and they’re being promoted by the Pollution Prevention Program at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

The Benefits of Rubber Sidewalks for Urban Trees
Rubbersidewalks (the company, that is) attributes its core concept to Richard Valeriano, a senior public works inspector for the City of Santa Monica. The original idea behind a rubber sidewalk was to achieve a flexible surface that would reduce cracking around tree roots. In turn, that would reduce the need to cut or drastically trim trees with overgrown roots. Over the course of several years, city workers noticed that the rubber surface seemed to slow the growth of roots while providing the tree with sufficient water and oxygen, helping to mitigate the problem of root overgrowth at the source. The modular installation system also enables workers to remove sections of sidewalk to inspect tree roots, without the need for pavement-breaking equipment that could damage a tree.

The Other Benefits of Rubber Sidewalks
Aside from the potential savings in reduced personal injury lawsuits, the modular rubber surface makes it easier to open and close sections of sidewalk for maintenance or utility work. Seams in the modules enable stormwater to infiltrate into the soil instead of running into gutters. They’re handy to use for temporary sidewalks, and they’re suitable for surfacing urban tree wells. On the sustainability side, Rubbersidewalks’s first-generation product was made from 100% recycled tires. It now offers a second incarnation called Terrewalks, which uses a mix of tires and waste plastic from farm irrigation equipment. As a means of finding a use for the millions of tires disposed every year, rubber sidewalks promise a scale similar to that of recycled tire roof shingles — a big leap over smaller projects like tire shoes and toys.

Rubber Sidewalks and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Walking and biking instead of driving are often cited as effective ways to lower one’s personal greenhouse emissions, but the equation skews when you factor in the greenhouse emissions involved in constructing more sidewalks and bike paths. A good chunk of those emissions have to do with concrete surfaces. Concrete is made from cement, which is a significant source of greenhouse gasses. Worldwide, cement is estimated to account for about 5% of all carbon dioxide emissions from human activity, with concrete accounting for about 8% overall. Though rubber surfaces do involve some greenhouse gas in the manufacturing process, there would seem to be a savings in emissions related to transportation, installation, maintenance, and urban street tree health. If there is any way to have your cake and eat it too, a rubber sidewalk could be it.